Goliath
is the sixth boss in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. The only thing more massive than he is the weight of his blasphemies. Origins Goliath is a biblical warrior defeated by the young David in the Book of Samuel, with a particular notable aspect about him being his massive stature. Saul and the Israelites were facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. Twice a day, the champion of the Philistines came out between the lines and challenged the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat. David heard that Goliath had defied the armies of God and of the reward from Saul to the one who defeated him, and accepted the challenge. David and Goliath confronted each other, Goliath with his armor and javelin, David with his staff and sling. David hurled a stone from his sling and hit Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath fell on his face to the ground and David cut off his head. The Philistines fled and were pursued by the Israelites. Description Goliath is a massive, hulking humanoid who resembles the Creature, although in a much more increased size. He is the boss of the Giant's Dwelling, which takes this name in reference to him. When the player enters the boss room, the giant is first encountered bound in place by many chains and shackles. These don't retain him for too long, however, and once he has been alerted of the player's presence, he breaks free from his boundaries with little effort. His offensive repertoire mainly consists in large area-of-effect attacks that can cover great distances, and by the frequent use of sheer melee force, either by punching or stomping his surroundings. Upon being defeated, he kneels down, then raises his fist up before vanishing in a pillar of light. Strategy Goliath has a wide variety of attacks in his arsenal: *He will swing his arms backward and then punch the ground. Spikes made out of rock will erupt out of the ground. Stay at a far distance, around a whole screen away, to completely avoid it. Inflicts heavy damage. *Sometimes, he will jump up and slam the ground, causing a giant shockwave to erupt around him. Do not try to retreat and expect to jump over the shockwaves; such tactic is very hard to dodge and inflicts a lot of Thunder-based damage. Go under him once he does this. *He will also punch the ceiling, causing easily destroyable debris to fall and hit the player. Though the debris damage is the least damaging of his arsenal, dodging them is difficult. Upward attacks can be used, as well as the basic Scutum glyph to get rid of them without taking damage, or dodging them if possible. Shanoa may also summon a Zombie (Fidelis Caries) and then crouch: the zombie will break what's falling and the player will not be harmed. Alternatively, the player may cast the Pneuma Glyph Union (Union Pneuma) to destroy all debris around Shanoa. *Goliath will take long strides to back the player into a corner. Trying to back up while expecting he will stop his momentum must be avoided, because he will not. If the hero is cornered, Goliath will repeatedly punch them, each hit inflicting heavy damage. Considering the player's overall stats upon encountering Goliath during their initial playthrough, this move will most likely result in the player's death. The amount of damage Goliath could dish out to Shanoa may be avoided if a great deal of healing items had been acquired beforehand, or if the player is fighting Goliath on a new game plus mode at a higher level. Crouch under his strides to avoid them. *When he gets around the halfway point, he will crouch down for a while. If Shanoa is standing too close when attacking him, Goliath may grab the character, so they must be careful. Otherwise, after waiting long enough, he will simply do another jump and slam the ground. A skillful player may be able to avoid the attempted grab, leaving Goliath open to attack for a brief moment. The most effective way to beat him is to throw Axe glyphs (Ascia) repeatedly at medium distance. That way, all of his moves will give the player enough time to predict what moveset he will do, even when he decides to crouch down for a while. It is possible to use the more closer and conservative Slash weapons, but the short range can keep the player off guard. Enemy Data Item Data Trivia *Although he resembles the Creature, as do several other monsters in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, this enemy is obviously meant to be the biblical Goliath, telling from the "blasphemies" mentioned in his description, as well as his Boss Medal calling him a "soldier". *Goliath's appearance, multi-hit punch, and death pose appear to be a mild reference to Raoh from the Fist of the North Star series. *Goliath's boss theme, Dissonant Courage, is shared with the Giant Skeleton, Rusalka and Jiang Shi. Category:Biblical Monsters Category:Order of Ecclesia Bosses